The Stupid Question Thread

Look, baby, I'm not going to bullshit you. There's a lot of nonsense espoused in the name of CMA. As I've said before, this is one of the problems that naturally arises from styles of martial arts that aren't 100% performance-oriented. And I don't know about you, sexy pants, but I don't want to see the CMA forum cluttered up with nonsense. So here's the plan:

Ridiculous questions and comments will be assembled in this thread. Discussion will go on until either A) we come to a concise repsonse or B) things get too ridiculous.

Thanks to Backfist Monkey, we have our first question (from this thread): I've heard (and I swear I read it somewhere) that as part of his experimental diet, he ( Bruce Lee) actually mixed raw meat and often blood into his protein drinks.

Has anyone else heard this or can anyone provide me with a link that proves that Bruce Lee was a blood-drinker?

And somewhere ini a thread anouncing this forum on Empty Flower (where there wasn't exactly a whole lot of love), we got this gem:Last I heard, MMA guys rarely...if ever... enter San Shou because they don't have good enough striking abilities to keep up.

Bruce Lee, I swear...people just dont get tired of this or him. I will chime with a who cares.

MMA not wanting to do San Shou? Why would they? The San Shou and MMA fights are games, games have rules. Why particpate in one where the rules are in direct opposition. I dont think this is a stupid statement. I for one would not fair well in a game in which there was heavy groundfighting. My knowledge is quite limited. My practice has been enough that I am not 100% clueless in aspects of ground fighting. So i sure wouldnt go enter a judo tournament.

I also participate on Emptyflower and while I will not speak for them, there is a general opinion that folks interested in the Internal arts are used as ridicule here. Now, I will not say that IMA doesnt have their share of whackos, there is little doubt.

But what of those IMArists that are very focused in fighting applications and recognize words like "chi" as having no western equivilant and dont think of it as some mystical power, rather then the study of say my own XY which is, in essence, the practice of providing maximum power through perfection in structure, so that upon impact, the structure as close to perfect as possible, causes strikes that damage that they CANT be practiced at their full potential. Surely this is something the MMA community could hopefully keep their minds open to.

I also participate on Emptyflower and while I will not speak for them, there is a general opinion that folks interested in the Internal arts are used as ridicule here. Now, I will not say that IMA doesnt have their share of whackos, there is little doubt.

But what of those IMArists that are very focused in fighting applications and recognize words like "chi" as having no western equivilant and dont think of it as some mystical power, rather then the study of say my own XY which is,

Welcome to bullshido.

in essence, the practice of providing maximum power through perfection in structure, so that upon impact, the structure as close to perfect as possible, causes strikes that damage that they CANT be practiced at their full potential.

See, I was agreeing with you up to the bold. I enjoy forms to a degree, forms help work on structure.

The bold is the problem that people have with IMAers. The implied control and deadly that is espoused.

Yes, they can be practiced at full potential not 100% there is a difference.
Yes, they can be practiced with gloves and gear.
Yes, a heavy bag is just as good as the Makiwara board or sandbag.

Sorry but the caps makes a certain implication I disagee with in discussions. Every art has things you can't practice 100%.

Making a claim that san shou guys, in general, have better hands than their MMA counterparts may be a bit of a stretch just because of the popularity of the latter at present time. However, the statement does make sense in theory, just like boxers should have better hands than san shou guys. Naturally, people performing within a more limited rule-set are going to get better at developing individual attributes. However, one thing you have to bear in mind is that people who fight within a broader parameters are invariably going to view more restricted rule-sets as being more removed from reality than their own. San shou guys will regard pure grapplers or pure strikers as being less realistic. Ditto for MMA players vs. san shou players. Ditto for RSBD guys vs. MMA guys (a discussion we won’t get into here). However, these are all just games (although I would argue necessary ones) to practice certain skills. At the end of the day, comparing an individual attribute between one rule-set or another is sort of like saying that guys who do the giant slalom ski better than biathletes. They’re different events and should simply be regarded as such.

As for being “too deadly,” I’m going to have to go with Is It Fake, here. That’s what pads are for. While I am not denying the possibility of strikes that can cause serious internal injury, I believe that the majority of people who claim this skill are being more than a little optimistic about their own abilities. Show me someone who can punch through moderate to light padding and still pull off a body K.O against a conditioned subject and I’ll be more than happy to concede the point for that individual.

Now now guys, I didnt say too "deadly" because I understand what that implies. I truly do.

I will only speak of Xing Yi, and cant speak for or about other arts.

In our practice we do two things....perfect our structure at moment of impact and in the process, destroy the other's structure to our advantage. So what I mean is, it doesnt matter if you have gloves on or the like, you actually finish the punch, you are going to really hurt someone. Now, if you chose not to run with that, well hey, I will agree to disagree. We do get pasted that with using more of a "pushing" instead of a strike. And yes there are many ways to practice, but practice with another person must be done care. Whether you choose to open to that notion or not is up to you.

Now, I am NOT talking about some mystical 1 hit attack that levels persons, taught in some back room to 3 people alive that with one attack can kill a man.

Does this help the above? I understand if does not because I hate the notion of the mystical 1 hit death, but when you get to work with a truly knowledgable Xing Yi player, say what you want, but it is an experience.

As far as showing what I mean, and you may hate it, but it really must be experienced. And that is what the non-insane IMA players hate about MMA-ers, unwillingess to try it out yet spew forth drivel. But i\I do get where it comes from. It comes from the videos on this site. The web pages of mystical power. They move crap with your mind and other sort of nonsense.

Xing Yi is the study of structure and body mechanics. When some use a word like "chi" we use words like gravity, structure, keeping motions "alive" (basically making sure if one hand is doing X, the other is not doing nothing or "dead").

I've been going back and forth a bit between this site and Empty Flower. What I see is a whole lot of people using their own biases as blinders because they don't want to even contemplate the notion that they could have something to learn from the other guy. It's too bad because I would also like to see more co-operative learning. There is another barrier that is TMA-specific, but I'm going to get into that on another thread.

I guess I have no business posting in here seeing as how I have no CMA experience, but after reading the above post, I just had to ask what in the world you are talking about. I'm really trying not to be rude here, but I really can't understand these punches that padding can't protect you from. I feel pretty confident that a boxer can hit harder than most any CMArtist, and they always train at, or at least near full tilt. Really, I'm not trying to be a dick, but could you please explain this instead of just saying that we have to agree to disagree. Sorry, if I seem angry, I just don't understand.

Ed-when I said the "above post" I meant dwhomp's not RM's.

Now lovely Lucifer, in hell so stark
King, and lord of sin and pride
With some mist his wits make dark.
He send thee grace to be thy guide